Car-coupling



J. H. MEREDITH. Gar-Coupling,

No. 224,599. Patented Feb. 17, 18 80.

ATTORNEYS inserted two metal plates, H H.

7 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN H. MEREDITH, or SURATTSVILLE, MARYLAND.

CAR-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 224,599, dated February17, 1880.

Application filed October 16, 1879.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN H. MEREDITH, ofSurattsville, in the county of Prince George and State of Maryland,havetinvented anew and useful Improvement in Oar-Couplings, of which thefollowing is a specification.

The object of my invention is to construct a coupling which will beautomatic in its action, simple, which may be disconnected withoutdanger, and which can be applied with small expense to the draw-heads ingeneral use, and which will connect cars of different heights.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification,Figure l is a side elevation of two platform-cars having a part of oneof the drawheads and of one of the sides of the car broken awayto showthe construction of the coupling. Fig. 2 is a plan of the bottom of thecars.

In Fig. 1 is shown ahand-wheel, a, attached to the top of shaft a. Lowerdown, just above the floor of the car, also attached to shaft a, is aratchet-wheel, b. Fastened to the floor of the car is a pawl, 0, soarranged that it may be engaged or disengaged by the foot of theoperator. On the lower end of shaft a is fastened a grooved wheel, G.

In Fig. 1 car A is shown with the draw-head B made somewhat deeper thanordinary drawheads, one side being broken away to show the pin 0. Thispin maybe permanently fixed to the draw-head B, or may have a ring orhead at the top and be inserted in holes in the top and bottom of thedraw-head B. I prefer to make this pin round, as shown in the drawings,or square or triangular.

In Fig. 2 is shown the plan of the bottom of cars A and A, with thebottoms of drawheads B and B broken away. Draw-head B is provided with acentral pin, 6. To this pin are attached two plates of metal, 0. A shortdistance apart, between the metal plates 0, are Each plate is providedwith ahook or catch, K K, on the front end, and is beveled off to apoint from the inner side. The plates H H are held in their properplaces by pivots m m, and the rear ends of plates H H are kept apart bythe spring j, which may be made of any convenient form for this purpose,(elliptical or spiral.)

On oneend of plate is'attached a cord, rope, or chain, 6, which passesaround one side of the pulley F, and has the other extremity fast- ,enedto the pulley G. Plate H has a chain,

rope, or cord, i, attached to it at one end, the other end of the chain'5 being fastened to the pulley G.

In operating this device, the cars, when pushed together, cause thepivoted arms or plates H H to open when they strike against I do notclaim, broadly, two pivoted hooks' arranged in one draw-head to fastenautomatically on a pin in the opposite draw-head, as I am aware thatsuch is of itself not new.

I place the hooks so that they open in a horizontal plane, and by makingthe draw-head deeper than usual cars may be coupled which vary in heightconsiderably; and by having the pulley G attached to the shaft of thehandwheel a and providing the pulley G with two chains, the oppositeends of which are attached directly to the rear of the arms of the hooksK K, I am enabled to open the hooks K K instantly with a very small turnof the handwheel a, and thus separate the cars from each other beforethey have time to rebound.

'What I claim is The combination of the draw-head B, pin 0, with plates0 secured thereon, the plates or arms H H, provided with hooks K K andpivoted between said plates, the chain t", attached to one arm andpassing around the pulley F I

